Update: 29th April 2012

The only book I’ve finished since my last sidebar update is Diana Wynne Jones’ Fire and Hemlock. I’ve already put up a couple of posts on the book; my immediate comments on finishing and the notes and highlights I made on my Kindle (the latter is password protected due to spoilers and the password is “here be spoilers” typed without the quote marks and with the spaces).

Since I reread this as part of Kristen’sRead-Along, please do also go over to her post for the book on her blog. It’s a spoilery discussion, but if you’ve read the book, please do come along and join.

The False Prince

Right now I’m halfway through reading The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen. This is the book that evil Thea convinced me to buy. I’m enjoying it very much. I don’t think it’s blowing me away, but it’s taking me on a fascinating ride that I’m very glad to be taking. I’m not at all convinced that Sage is any kind of reliable narrator, and I’m waiting to find out what the truth about him is. Is he so stupid he really is doing all these things without thinking, or is there a deeper plan going on? Since Thea teased me with comparisons to Megan Whalen Turner’s Eugenides, I’m expecting more from Sage and I think I’ll be very disappointed if I don’t get it.

I don’t generally like unreliable narrators one tiny little bit. Being a straight forward person myself, I tend to assume people are honest and I feel terribly betrayed if they’re not. It was Thea’s mention of Eugenides that let me get past that to try the book. Because I’m taking a careful look at everything Sage says and expecting there’s some other truth running underneath, I think I can avoid that feeling of betrayal and enjoy the book. I hope so, because I’m enjoying myself so far.

And yes, it is taking Marcus and me a very long time to read A Book Dragon. It’s a lovely little book, but it is not a gripping or fast-paced read, so we’re just reading it on a couple of nights a week. We’re a little bit past halfway, so we are making progress.

Spoiler Policy

Wordpress lets me password lock a post, so that's what I'll do with any entries that contain spoilers. If you've read the book in question (or don't care), you can let yourself into any password protected post with "here be spoilers" (without the quotes of course).